17 Modern Menswear Classics Every Guy Should Own

Mar 07, 2024

By Yang-Yi Goh, Avidan Grossman, and Cam Wolf

First released: 2016

Emily Bode’s artful camp shirts—dazzling amalgams of lace fabrics, hand-embroidered details, and crochet finishes—have become emblems of the good life, a staple of Jay-Z in the Hamptons and menswear buffs pretty much everywhere else. The cropped, boxy fit harks back to the shirts your pop-pop wore on his honeymoon, but the DIY-inflected flourishes are catnip for a generation of young guys hooked on her analog approach to craftsmanship. Bode is in the business of designing future heirlooms, and nothing will delight your grandkids more than discovering one of her shirts in your closet ($890, Buy Now at Matches).

First released: 2018

Leave it to the hippie denim virtuosos at Kapital to take your tech-bro cousin’s favorite crunchy fleece jacket and turn it into a righteous work of art. The fluffy, shaggy, high-pile fleece is decorated in a print inspired by traditional Japanese sashiko stitching; flip it inside out and you’ve got a (seriously warm!) nylon shell that’s engineered to battle the elements. Practicality has rarely looked so progressive ($1,020, Buy Now at Mr Porter).

First released: 2019

For generations, Bottega Veneta’s signature intrecciato woven leather was held up as a paragon of understated elegance. Then the Italian house blew it up—literally—by supersizing the weave, dousing it in fresh tones, and sculpting it into a perfectly proportioned crossbody bag. Nearly half a decade into its starry status-symbol run, earning devotees like Dua Lipa and Jacob Elordi along the way, the Cassette has officially crossed over from It bag to bona fide classic ($2,900, Buy Now at Bottega Veneta).

First released: 2020

Balenciaga majordomo Demna is infamous for his internet-shattering viral stunts—a runway show inspired by The Simpsons, a $2,000 riff on Ikea’s icy blue shopping bag—sending the front-row gatekeepers reaching for their pearls. So it’s easy to forget that Balenciaga can subvert familiar basics—tees, hoodies, jeans—with gusto. Ultrawide jeans were once a divisive mainstay of Y2K-era style, but Balenciaga’s shapely, pavement-skimming spin on the silhouette is all the proof you need to ditch its slimmer counterparts for good. ($1,150, Buy Now at Mr Porter).

First released: 1977

Given the rich history of British tailoring—the first Savile Row suits were fashioned in the 1800s—Drake’s mere 46 years in business marks it a relative neophyte. And yet, across those decades, the London haberdasher has firmly established itself as the source for fine British neckwear—still fashioned locally in an endless array of exquisite textiles, like this archival paisley print silk. At a time when ties are inching toward extinction, knotting one up—leaning hard into tradition—feels downright punk ($225, Buy Now at Drake's).

First released: 2018

The Bulgarian avant-gardist Kiko Kostadinov has helped turn the stalwart Japanese brand’s running shoes into an IYKYK calling card for fashion kids—shrouding the uppers of one pair in techy slats, warping the lines on another like something out of Blade Runner. Now, after six boundary-pushing seasons together, Asics has rewarded Kostadinov with his own sportswear sub-label, Novalis. The first collection, complete with its own batch of drool-worthy kicks, hits shelves in early 2024 ($355, Buy Now at StockX).

First released: 2018

The quickest way to wrap your head around Anthony Vaccarello’s ultra-glam interpretation of YSL’s house codes? Start with the silhouette that made its namesake famous: a tribute to Le Smoking, the sexed-up tuxedo Yves Saint Laurent sent down the catwalk in the mid-’60s. By equipping the jacket with ultra-beefy satin lapels and the trousers with a slinky flare, Vaccarello added just enough pizazz to make the archetypal black-tie rig feel like a righteous flex. A silk blouse and vertiginous boots aren’t prerequisites, but they definitely help (jacket, $3,490, Buy Now at Saint Laurent; and pants, $1,650, Buy Now at Saint Laurent).

First released: 2018

Evan Kinori’s tight collection of silhouettes rarely changes, but this slouchy overshirt—made with Japanese fabrics and sewn in California—might be the purest expression of his vibey, texture-heavy ethos. He hasn’t been around for quite as long as Brooks Brothers, but for a certain cohort of chilled-out 9-to-5-ers, his Big Shirt is the New Age equivalent of its legendary oxford button-down ($545, Buy Now at Evan Kinori).

First released: 2019

For the hard-rocking tailoring revivalists at Husbands Paris, the suit never died—it left everything on the dance floor and came back reborn with a jolt of Gallic swagger. Founder Nicolas Gabard has been honing his vision of razor-sharp ’70s-inspired suiting for over a decade. The brand’s flowy trousers are a house signature—they sit well above the navel and open to a wide, straight leg, and the freakiest way to wear them is classic the whole way through: strong-shouldered blazer, point-collar dress shirt, jazzy silk tie ($613, Buy Now at Husbands).

First released: 1994

When the German watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne first released its Lange 1 timepiece nearly three decades ago, the rest of the industry gave it some serious side-eye. At the time, the off-kilter dial composition—with an oversized date display meant to resemble a clock inside Dresden’s Semper Opera House—was unlike anything anyone had seen before. It has since inspired countless imitators, but for real-deal watch collectors nothing beats the OG—a game-changing icon that will turn heads and earn compliments everywhere you go ($44,700, Buy Now at A. Lange & Söhne).

First released: 2013

Our Legacy’s Camion takes the svelte ankle-high cut of a 1960s Beatle boot, the hulking toe of a cowpoke roper boot, and the low-heel Vibram soles of an old-school engineer boot and blends them together with a healthy splash of Scandi minimalist magic. The silhouette has become a permanent fixture in the Stockholm label’s collections and cool-guy closets the world over for good reason: It’s timeless enough to lock down your wildest fits, but edgy enough to supercharge your simplest ensembles ($620, Buy Now at Matches).

First released: 2018

To really understand the forces that propelled Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen to the forefront of the menswear zeitgeist, all you need to do is slip on one of The Row’s exquisite cotton trenches. The billowy, oversized shape is pure Bogart, but the utter lack of adornment on this one—zero epaulets, and not a single belt to speak of—upholds the brand’s reputation as a repository of the quietest of quiet luxuries ($4,450, Buy Now at Mr Porter).

First released: 2013

A few years ago, Fear of God founder Jerry Lorenzo told GQ his goal was to take his brand “to Ralph Lauren heights.” If he gets there, a big reason will be because his sublime hooded sweatshirts have deservedly reached the same American icon status as Lauren’s piqué polo shirts. Putting your stamp on something as familiar as a hoodie isn’t easy—but there’s no mistaking the drapey contours and weighted-blanket-like fleece of a FoG original for anything else ($695, Buy Now at Mr Porter).

First released: 2012

A great leather belt needs to be many things: hardy and utilitarian, distinctive but not distracting. Natasha Chekoudjian and Jason Ross, the St. Louis husband-and-wife team behind Artemas Quibble, have mastered that specific formula better than anyone on the planet. Their handcrafted, heirloom-quality belts are always eye-catching—often dyed in deep indigos and splashy reds, with buckles welded from antique metals—but they only ever serve to complete a fit, rather than steal the scene completely (Prices Vary at Artemas Quibble).

First released: 2014

Good sunglasses should make you feel famous—great ones should come with a ringing endorsement from the A-list. Jacques Marie Mage, the upstart eyewear line founded by Jerome Mage, specializes in the latter, hawking megawatt frames in highly limited quantities, a paradox given how frequently they pop up on Page Six. His angular Plaza specs riff on a canonized Wayfarer shape. The tinted lenses and double-laminated temples ensure you look ready for your close-up ($795, Buy Now at Matches).

First released: 2015

Gucci’s maximalist turn during the late 2010s catalyzed a tectonic shift in the fashion landscape, yielding a glut of instant wardrobe classics. None captures the brand’s more-is-more bent quite like its achingly beautiful silk button-ups, which weave its iconic interlocking “G” logo into a gossamer mix of tender masculinity. To fancy boys who can’t quit those genre-defining horsebit loafers, Gucci’s decadent, retro-sleazy menswear is a natural next step ($1,600, Buy Now at Gucci).

First released: 2015

What Yo-Yo Ma is to the cello, Grace Wales Bonner is to the tracksuit. The British designer is an absolute maestro of the sporty matching set, playing on its deep associations with the ’80s Jamaican dancehall culture she worships and the ’90s south London street style she grew up on. In Wales Bonner’s hands, a tracksuit is as tailored and flattering as a suit suit and employs colors, textures, and shapes that are indisputably sexy (top, $640, Buy Now at Mr Porter; and bottom, $540, Buy Now at Mr Porter).

A version of this story originally appeared in the September 2023 issue of GQ with the title “Menswear’s New Oddball Classics”